With iconic franchises from Suikoden, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear, Konami has undoubtedly played a massive role in reshaping the gaming industry as a whole. Since the company's long existence went from a jukebox rental and repair business in 1969 to a game-developing corporation in the early 80s, Konami has produced many video games spanning multiple genres and platforms.

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The company has also pioneered many new genres, such as the stealth genre, 2D run-and-gun, and metroidvania, that many AAA and indie game developers have since implemented. With so many feats and accolades Konami has received from its number of IPs, we're going to break down the most memorable ones that have become such iconic phenomenons.

10 Contra

From Left To Right: Lance And Bill From Contra

One of Konami's earlier video game franchises is the classical Contra series, which starts our list off at number ten. Popularizing the 2D side-scrolling run-and-gun shooting subgenre, Contra is a franchise that has garnered a lot of positive reception and a cult following. Producing around fourteen titles in its lifespan, Contra has since sold a total of four million copies worldwide. A trait that many veteran players may know when it comes to the Contra games (especially the original Arcade and NES titles) is its extreme hair-pulling difficulty.

While being a run-and-gun shooter game, many Contra titles play like deadly bullet hells; if the character you're controlling gets hit even once by an enemy object, you will lose a life. The set amount of lives you possess in the original Contra game has rendered many gamers to lay eyes on its notorious game-over screen numerous times over. Its high difficulty for casuals and veterans alike places the series last on our list, being beaten by Konami's more memorable franchises.

9 Bloody Roar

From Left To Right: Shina, Alice, Bakuryu, Yugo, And Urriko From Bloody Roar II

A franchise now owned by Konami after being bought out from Hudson Soft, Bloody Roar, remains one of the company's few fighting IPs within its collection. Existing since 1997 but under a different moniker known as Beastorizer, Bloody Roar is a unique fighting game that utilizes the fighters to morph into animal combatants called Zoanthrope. In their animal form, the characters' fighting style changes completely, adding multiple playstyles to each fighter — a technique that has yet to be seen in most other fighting games.

Bloody Roar, however, is sadly a short-lived series, even by fighting game standards. Boasting only five titles, this franchise failed to gain much reception and notoriety at levels equal to the big hits like Tekken, Street Fighter, and Dead or Alive. Because of its relatively low popularity among avid fighting aficionados, Bloody Roar undoubtedly ranks low on our list at number nine.

8 Zone Of The Enders

The Jejuty Orbital Frame From Zone Of The Enders - The 2nd Runner Mars

Though another short-lived series, Zone of the Enders storms its way up on our list at a close eighth place. Developed by Hideo Kojima, the appeal of this IP comes from its heavy utilization of mechs called Orbital Frames and addicting space combat. In spite of only having three main titles to its name and an HD collection, Zone of the Enders has been popular enough to still warrant a twenty-six-episode anime series produced in 2001.

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The Zone of the Enders games occur in the 22nd century, with the plots revolving around two specific Orbital Frames: Anubis and Jehuty. Gameplay-wise, the titles incorporate hack-and-slash and third-person shooter mechanics mixed with some RPG leveling elements. As Leo Steanbuck, you are tasked to combat rogue Orbital Frames while completing missions under specific conditions.

7 Ganbare Goemon

From Left To Right: Princess Yuki, Goemon, And Ebisumaru From Ganbare Goemon

The Ganbare Goemon series is a fun and zany series that hasn't received as much, if any, love here in the west as it has in Japan, giving it its relatively low placement at number seven. Be that as it may, Ganbare Goemon remains a pretty popular Konami franchise for the Japanese audience, with the series producing not just digital games but board games and pachislot games as well.

Though most of the Ganbare Goemon games have never been localized outside Japan, at least five titles have seen the light outside the country, the prominent ones being Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon and Goemon's Great Adventure, both of which are on the Nintendo 64. Alas, this cute and enjoyable little series has since not released any more new titles, with the last installment being produced back in 2011.

6 Suikoden

Suikoden III Heroes From Left Chris Lightfellow Hugo Of Karaya And Geddoe

At number six is the Suikoden franchise, Konami's attempt at breaking into the RPG genre. And what an unbelievable endeavor it was. The Suikoden series has produced five mainline titles and six spinoffs throughout its short lifespan, making it a worthy contender on our list.

What makes the Suikoden titles stand out from your more traditional Japanese role-playing games is the unique gameplay feature to recruit a massive roster of party members, usually totaling well over a hundred combatants. Because this franchise has managed to develop quite the following during the span of its existence, it has fortunately obtained enough love from the fans to receive full HD remasters of the first two mainline titles.

5 Bomberman

White Bomber Preparing For Action In Super Bomberman R

Another series initially developed by the now-defunct Hudson Soft, Bomberman, has since been owned by Konami, justifying its place on our list at number five. Existing since 1983, Bomberman as a franchise has gone on to sell about ten million copies worldwide, with the character himself appearing in well over sixty games. With so many titles, spinoffs, and appearances under this little robot's belt, the Bomberman franchise has naturally managed to produce games across many genres, from party games, action games, platformers, to even RPGs.

It also goes without saying that White Bomber has become one of the more well-known faces of gaming over the decades, finally making his long-awaited emergence in a Super Smash Bros. game, if only appearing as an assist trophy. With all these feats, one can easily see why this series ranks mildly high on our list, despite not being an original Konami IP.

4 Silent Hill

James Sunderland looking in the mirror (Silent Hill 2)

Silent Hill, the franchise that gave us many heart-pounding scares, creeps its way high at number four. A horror series rivaling the Resident Evil games, Silent Hill has spawned seven to eight main titles and a slew of spinoffs across various platforms and mobile devices. The popularity of this IP has also seen the production of several films, with a third one allegedly in production.

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Taking more of a psychological horror approach as opposed to survival horror like its main rival, Silent Hill is perhaps the second-best horror-selling video game franchise in the gaming world. This series has also conceived the ever-terrifying Pyramid Head, who has grown to become one of the most frightening fictional antagonists. Despite being a franchise capable of standing on equal footing with its Resident Evil counterpart, Silent Hill doesn't quite stack up well enough to beat out more of the higher-selling and iconic IPs Konami has dished out over the decades.

3 Castlevania

The Heroes In Their Respective Fighting Stances From Castlevania - Grimoire Of Souls

The Castlevania franchise, chilling at number three, is Konami's best action-platformer. Centering around Dracula, the Castlevania games primarily have you controlling the series' protagonists, Simon Belmont, Richter, and Alucard, as they fight to thwart Dracula's evil plans from coming to fruition. Like many of Konami's other franchises, Castlevania has produced numerous spinoffs, manga, novels, and even a successful anime series streamed on Netflix.

The gameplay aspects of the Castlevania games essentially take place in Dracula's castle, with the graphics being 2D side-scrolling reminiscent of titles like Metroid. The widespread success and praise this franchise has received over the years has engendered the creation of a subgenre known as "metroidvania," combining both names of Metroid and Castlevania to precisely describe this game style.

2 Metal Gear

Official promotional artwork from Konami for Metal Gear Solid 2

Another IP renowned for being created by the legendary Hideo Kojima, the Metal Gear franchise finishes in a close second place on our list. A series that arguably pioneered the stealth genre in video games, Metal Gear has since become one of the more highly acclaimed video game franchises of all time.

The series' protagonist, Solid Snake, has also become an iconic character in the gaming world, placing him among fellow gaming icons such as Mario, Link, Pikachu, Pac-Man, and Sonic. Snake's high recognizability has engendered him to be a recurring selectable character in the Super Smash Bros. games since Brawl. While it's questionable if this IP will ever continue after the flop of Metal Gear Survive and Kojima's departure, it can't be argued that Metal Gear has heavily innovated the gaming industry regarding gameplay and cinematic cutscenes. Its potentially abrupt end, however, sadly keeps it from climbing to number one on our list.

1 Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yugi And Kaiba Preparing To Duel In Yu-Gi-Oh!

Taking the crown as the king of Konami games in our ranking is the insanely popular Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. Though initially starting out as a shonen manga, this IP has since spawned numerous card-based video games in conjunction with the trading card game played by many hardcore fans worldwide.

It's no debate that both the Yu-Gi-Oh! video games and trading card games are among the most popular and successful products Konami has released to the market. It's also worth noting that the trading card game remains the top-selling card game in the world, breaking several Guinness World Records. With many adaptations ranging from anime, spinoffs, competitive online games, and various merch, Yu-Gi-Oh!, as an influential franchise, will remain an IP that will forever be a part of Konami and the greater global market.

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